


All That's Best of Dark and Light

by Ellie_Enchanted



Series: The one where Lucy gains a Brother [2]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, Gen, Laxus is a Good Big Brother, Lucy is a little bit reckless, Lucy joining Fairy Tail, They maybe need to communicate a little bit better, but that's okay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-12
Updated: 2017-08-12
Packaged: 2018-12-14 07:03:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11777952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ellie_Enchanted/pseuds/Ellie_Enchanted
Summary: After a year of traveling with Laxus, Lucy is finally achieving her lifelong dream of joining Fairy Tail. Laxus is conflicted.





	All That's Best of Dark and Light

Its summer once again when everything changes. Almost the exact time that he met her, one year later, and the two of them have fallen into a rhythm. Laxus and Lucy, living life as they want to, drifting from town to town as they wish. Sometimes they go because Lucy wants to see something, pulled along by her insatiable desire to experience the world and have adventures, after so long being trapped and contained. Sometimes they go for one of Laxus’s jobs, almost like those he would take at a guild but not. 

It’s nice, just following each other to wherever they need to be. Lucy is so happy she practically glows, high on freedom and life, and Laxus…Laxus is just content to plod along after her, soaking up the joy she radiates. She smiles at him in a way she doesn’t, quite, at anybody else, and it feels good. It feels like he has a family again, in this bright, sassy, ceaselessly kind girl. Sure, sometimes she can get petty or vain, or be a bit of a brat, but it only makes him love her more. She’s imperfect, and all the more amazing for it, because it makes her real, and because she always manages to set aside her faults when it really matters. It feels like he’s learning how to be a good person again, through her, and that’s all he can really ask for.

This week, they’re in Hargeon town, by the sea. They came for a silver key that Lucy heard rumors of being here. She explained that it isn’t a powerful spirit, or one that has any use in battle. It isn’t even rare. But it’s a sweet little thing, a good companion spirit, and very cute. A year ago, he would have turned up his nose at her desire, wondering what good it could possibly be if it didn’t have any use. Now, though, he thinks he might understand. She wants it because it makes her happy, pure and simple, for the same reason many people want dogs or cats or any other kind of pet. Not his kind of thing, honestly, but he hopes that Lucy can find the key. He wants her to be happy.

Tonight, Lucy doesn’t come back to the hotel until very late at night. That isn’t too unusual – she gets distracted sometimes, or finds something she’d like to do on the town. It’s not like he keeps her on a leash, or anything, she’s free to go where she likes, when she likes. He does the same. As long as they tell each other if they’re going to be gone more than a day, everything is fine. But the look on her face is odd, like she’s worried, or conflicted. And that is unusual.   
Laxus waits. She’ll tell him in her own time, he knows. And she does.

“I ran into a guy today,” Lucy starts, fiddling with her fingers in a nervous habit that’s left over from when every word had to be carefully chosen for fear of a bad reaction. It’s as good a sign as any that this conversation is not going to be easy. “He had an illegal charm spell – don’t worry, some other dude accidentally broke the spell before I got fully ensnared – and he was going around inviting girls to a party on his boat. I figured he couldn’t be up to anything good, so I decided to go check it out, you know?”

This makes Laxus sit up straighter. “Lucy, you should have told me before doing something like that! What if you got hurt?” Lucy can take care of herself, and he knows it, but she’s not primarily a combat mage, and even the most skilled mages can still be caught in charm spells and their kin all too easily.

“I know, okay, but I didn’t think it was going to be too much trouble, okay? You would have insisted on coming and no guys were invited, so it would’ve totally blown my cover. And it all turned out fine anyway, so you don’t have to worry.” He did, in fact, have plenty of reason to worry, but Lucy was giving him a look that said that conversation was maybe better left for another time. “Anyway, so once I got there, I realized that this guy was drugging the girls with a sleep spell and was planning on selling them into slavery. So I attacked him, but he got my keys away from me, and I couldn’t do much. I thought I was toast, but then this guy comes crashing in through the ceiling and distracts them enough for me to get my keys back, and together, new guy and I beat up the creeper.” Suddenly, Lucy is back to being cagey and not meeting his eyes. “And when the fight is over, I realize that I know the new guy from somewhere. He’s the one who broke the spell this morning, and some things about him are starting to add up to form a bigger picture. Like…like his pink hair and his white scarf and his blue cat…and the Fairy Tail tattoo on his shoulder.”  
Laxus feels like he can’t breathe. “Natsu.” It comes out as a rough whisper. Lucy nods slowly.

“He was just like you’ve always described him.” She pauses for a long moment, and then says, so quiet he almost can’t hear her, “He invited me to join Fairy Tail.” When he doesn’t speak, Lucy barrels forward, her word coming almost too fast to understand. “And he tried to drag me off right then and there, because we kind of burned down the harbor – please don’t be mad about that – but I told him that I had some business in town and to go on without me and so he did and I came back here and I – I really want to go, it’s always been my dream, but I can’t leave you behind and I won’t, so I had to know what you thought, first. So…what do you think?”  
He thinks a lot of things, including that he isn’t ready to go back, not yet, maybe not ever, but what he says is “I think you should go.” 

It’s the right thing to say. Lucy lights up. “Really? Because I don’t want to go if you don’t think you’re ready to be back there. I want you to be happy, too!”  
He nods, pastes on a big, convincing smile. “I’m not ready to go back to the guild yet, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t mention my name, but it’ll be nice to be back in Magnolia. We can get a house on the edge of town, and I can go on jobs and you can join the guild. It’s been a year, I’m gettin’ kinda tired of moving around so much anyway.” 

Lucy’s smile is blinding. If going back to that town, his home, is what it takes to keep her happy, he’ll lie all day and say it’s fine. And eventually, it will be. He’ll get used to it. In the meantime, well, Lucy will be fulfilling her lifelong dream. He knows that Fairy Tail will make her happier than he ever could alone. That will have to be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Lord Byron's "She Walks in Beauty".


End file.
